Baking with Einkorn

Baking with einkorn is a healthy, nutritious way to feed you and your family. Einkorn is unique and its gluten is different than that of other types of wheat. You will notice that not only is it easier to digest, but also by some challenges it may present to you while baking. Bread dough made with einkorn can be very sticky and a little tough to get used to, while cake batters can sometimes get gummy with mixing. Visit jovial’s recipe section for additional ideas and recipes.

Please follow these useful tips for the best results.

Einkorn may be substituted cup for cup with regular whole wheat flour in some muffin, pancake, cakes and cookie recipes. However, sometimes, the amount of liquid in the recipe needs to be reduced by roughly 15-20%.

When consulting jovial’s recipe section, it is best to work with a kitchen scale. We will never measure the same cup of flour, but our scales will be in harmony.

Don’t substitute jovial’s einkorn flour in recipes that call for whole grain einkorn flour ground from our wheat berries and vice versa without considering that the added bran and fiber in whole grain flour absorbs more liquid than the all-purpose flour.

If your bread dough mixes up at a normal texture because you add more flour to lessen its sticky texture, your dough will end up drying up and baking dense later because einkorn absorbs liquids much slower than regular wheat. Make sure your dough is nice and wet and sticky, but that it doesn’t expand too much on your work surface after kneading.

All einkorn bread dough are no-knead, because excessive kneading does not help develop einkorn’s gluten. Knead with your hands just until the dough is completely hydrated and avoid using a standing mixer.

Einkorn’s gluten is weaker than normal flour, so when you let a loaf of bread made with dry active yeast rise, don’t let it proof to the old standard “let the dough rise until it has doubled in size.” If the dough rises too much, it will deflate in the oven. Make sure the dough springs back when you press on it with your finger. It is better to under-proof than over-proof with einkorn.

Because einkorn contains less starch than regular wheat, cakes can bake a bit denser so we like to add an extra egg or egg white to the batter.

Beat less and at lower speed or by hand for lighter textures in cakes and muffin recipes.

We have been working with einkorn flour for more than five years and can help answer questions. We want you to love this precious ancient grain as much as we do, so please contact us at info@jovialfoods.com. We’re here for you.